Berkeley Municipal Code Ch. 14.12 Traffic Control Devices

A. The City Traffic Engineer shall place and maintain or cause to be placed and maintained official traffic control devices when and as required to make effective the provisions of this division.

B. Whenever the Vehicle Code requires for the effectiveness of any provision thereof that traffic control devices be installed to give notice to the public of the application of such law the City Traffic Engineer is authorized to install the necessary devices subject to any limitations or restrictions set forth in the law applicable thereto.

C. The City Traffic Engineer may also place and maintain such additional traffic control devices as they may deem necessary or proper to regulate traffic or to guide or warn traffic, but they shall make such determination only upon the basis of traffic engineering principles and traffic investigations and in accordance with such standards, limitations, and rules as may be set forth in this division or as may be determined by ordinance or resolution of the Council. (Ord. 3262-NS § 3, 1952)

No provision of the Vehicle Code or of this division for which signs are required shall be enforced against an alleged violator unless appropriate signs are in place and are sufficiently legible to be seen by an ordinarily observant person, giving notice of such provisions of the traffic laws. (Ord. 3262-NS § 3.1, 1952)

It is unlawful for the operator of any vehicle or train to disobey the instructions of any official traffic control device placed in accordance with this division unless otherwise directed by a police officer or other authorized person subject to the exceptions granted the operator of an authorized emergency vehicle when responding to emergency calls. (Ord. 3262-NS § 3.2, 1952)

A. The City Traffic Engineer is directed to install and maintain official traffic signals at those intersections and other places where traffic conditions are such as to require that the flow of traffic be alternately interrupted and released in order to prevent or relieve traffic congestion or to protect life or property from exceptional hazard.

B. The City Traffic Engineer shall ascertain and determine the locations where such signals are required by field investigation, traffic counts and other traffic information as may be pertinent and their determinations therefrom shall be made in accordance with those traffic engineering and safety standards and instructions set forth in the California Maintenance Manual issued by the Division of Highways of the State Department of Public Works. (Ord. 3262-NS § 3.3, 1952)

The City Traffic Engineer is authorized to mark center lines and lane lines upon the surface of the roadway to indicate the course to be traveled by vehicles and may place signs temporarily designating lanes to be used by traffic moving in a particular direction, regardless of the center line of the highway. (Ord. 3262-NS § 3.4, 1952)

The City Traffic Engineer is authorized to remove, relocate or discontinue the operation of any traffic control device not specifically required by the Vehicle Code or this division whenever they shall determine in any particular case that the conditions which warranted or required the installation no longer exist. (Ord. 3262-NS § 3.5, 1952)

The City Traffic Engineer shall determine the hours and days during which any traffic control device shall be in operation or be in effect, except in those cases where such hours or days are specified in this division. (Ord. 3262-NS § 3.6, 1952)

It is unlawful for any person, unless authorized by the City, to paint any street or curb surface; provided, however, that this section shall not apply to the painting of numbers on a curb surface by any person who has complied with the provisions of any resolution or ordinance of the City pertaining thereto. (Ord. 3262-NS § 3.7, 1952)

The City Traffic Engineer is authorized to place and maintain distinctive roadway markings as described in the Vehicle Code on those streets or parts of streets where the volume of traffic or the vertical or other curvature of the roadway renders it hazardous to drive on the left side of such marking or signs and markings. Such marking or signs and marking shall have the same effect as similar markings placed by the State Department of Public Works pursuant to the provisions of the Vehicle Code. (Ord. 3786-NS § 2 (part), 1961)

A. The City Traffic Engineer is authorized to place and maintain road traffic control devices in the roadway that require a motorist to change said motorist’s normally straight direction of travel and require a right turn, left turn or U-turn. Said devices shall include, but shall not be limited to, signs, markings and barriers. Said control devices may be placed or installed at an intersection or between intersections on streets that are classified as local streets in the Circulation Section of the Berkeley Master Plan as adopted by the City Council in August 1968, a copy of which Circulation Section is attached hereto by reference as Exhibit A, a copy of which is on file in the office of the City Clerk. All such signs, markings, barriers or other devices shall comply with the California Vehicle Code, the Traffic Manual of the California Division of Highways, the Uniform Manual of Traffic Control Devices of the United States Department of Transportation.

B. All such proposed control device installations or placements shall be reviewed and approved by the following departments or individuals prior to installation or placement: Department of Planning, Department of Public Works, Fire Department, Police Department and a majority of the residents residing within one block of each direction of the control device location. (Ord. 4664-NS § 2 (part), 1973)